Musings on Culture Shock from a Brit in California

Today was Presidents’ Day, the third public holiday of the year in the US and the second one that my employer does not honour by closing. How should one mark this holiday which is timed to coincide with the birthday of George Washington? My wife buys me a presidential book, this year a book on Franklin Pierce’s role during the Civil War.

For those who feel that reading books on long dead politicians is not especially celebratory, let me recommend that you partake of a glass or two of Whiskey. This is a highly relevant way to celebrate the day, as by his death George Washington was one of the country’s largest distiller, producing 11,000 gallons a year.

Led Zeppelin’s most famous song is almost certainly “Stairway to Heaven”. Let us imagine for a moment that it was not a Led Zep song, what would it have sounded like. Thanks to the wonders of YouTube we can now listen to the long lost Beatles classic “Stairway to Heaven”

I was watching Torchwood on BBC America last night. After the program there was an announcement on how to turn on Closed Captioning (Subtitles) for those who cannot understand British accents. This was an entirely serious piece of advice, which left me laughing; far funnier, I am sure, than the Graham Norton show which was on later that evening.

Super Duper Tuesday has come and gone. The candidate from the second freakiest cult has withdrawn, leaving the Republicans with an obvious front-runner. The Democrats are left with the wife of a philandering, but popular formal president and a man with Kennedy’s charisma but without his amorality. The choice should be obvious, but the economic upturn at the end of the twentieth century has left a fond memory of the Clinton occupancy of the White House.

I do not get to vote, but when the field was open I would have supported Bill Richardson or Edwards. Now, there is no doubt that Barrack Obama is the least worst of what is left. That may sound like damming with faint phrase, but Obama is one of the best three candidates in my lifetime. (Bonus points for identifying the two others who make that top three.)

In the UK, people go to the polls in schools and village halls. I can still recall having days at home in 1974, while we had two General Elections in the same year. Here in the US, any building seems to be a possible venue. My Mother-In-Law voted in a BBQ shack that despite my love of ribs I have never visited.

Double bonus points for anyone who can tell me what is meant by “Collared Greens”

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About Me

I am a British subject born in 1965, the year that Winston Churchill died. I believe that the climate should be cold and the beer warm. At the less then tender age of 41 I have moved to California. This blog consists of my musings on the resulting culture shock.